Top Ten Tuesday: My First Reviews

Welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday! Once hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, it is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s a weekly book feature where a topical list-prompt is posted and readers respond with their top ten for that prompt. Yours truly tends to go over ten, but hey, what can a passionate reader do?

This week’s topic is: First Ten Reviews

Aha.

Aha aha aHAHA.

Yeah, this trip down memory lane is definitely cringe-worthy. I wrote my first book review over the summer of 2016, three years ago (!!!) and I’ve written quite a few, since then–almost 200 more, according to Goodreads. My style has definitely changed over the years (as well as the quality of writing, I like to think) and I am actually proud of that evolution.

A few elements, however, despite the growth, have certainly stuck. My quirkiness, most namely. My reviews have never really followed any structure of critiquing the finer elements, like plot, worldbuilding, characters, etc, though I often bring up all of those elements. Instead, they have always talked about how a book makes me feel, oftentimes in a rambling or rantish way, which is why I often incorporate a lot of cursing, ALL CAPS, italics and strikethrough moments. But I also usually tell a story within the review (of how I discovered the book, for example), which isn’t common, but definitely On Brand for this one.

So, let’s check them out, shall we?

The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks: The review that started it all. I’d never written a book review before, but finishing The Broken Eye had left me positively reeling and I just…I just had to get something written down. And then I found that I kinda liked the whole book reviewing thing, so my blog–which had already been a space I’d been using off and on–became a lot more active and it’s completely changed my life, honestly.

The Last Wish by Andrej Sapkowski: Again, start off with a story completely unrelated to the story being told in The Last Wish, instead lamenting about my experiences with the video game franchise before actually talking about the book at all. *shrugs*

Chains of the Heretic by Jeff Salyards: I like that I pulled a quote and started off with that. I wish I did more of that, honestly. (Also, do we have another story-inside-a-review moment? Yep. Three out of three, so far.)

In the Highlander’s Bed by Cathy Maxwell: I have some romances thrown in here! This is important not because the review itself is particularly good, but because I loved reading this genre, but was shamed into believing I couldn’t admit that most of high school and college. So I was proud of myself for embracing my love of this genre, even if it took me a while to do so.

The Stand by Stephen King: I think this is one of the first reviews where I start to try and mimic some of the elements in the book within the review itself, like I did with the quote at the end. I didn’t do this a ton, but I did a little bit, offering small homages to the book I just devoured. Definitely an unconscious choice to stop doing that, as I found my voice more, but I dunno. Sometimes, I miss it.

It was sorta fun to go back through and look at my first reviews. I’m really glad that I’ve got a little bit more of a format going, for my current review style–and that I’m reading more, in general–but I’m also glad that I’m still having fun with them and that the elements that made me fall in love with writing reviews in the first place–by being a storyteller and my quirky self–have stuck with me, even as I’ve learned how to be a better blogger, over the years.

Thanks for sticking with me throughout this journey, friends! Whether you’ve read one of my reviews or all of them, it really means a lot to have this community and be a part of it. Here’s to many more years talking about the books we love!

Read on!

PS: Oh yeah and 10/10 of these reviews have my imbedded stories within them, so yeah, that is definitely a Brand for yours truly. 😉

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Published by Nicole Evans

Nicole Evans is a writer of fantasy and science fiction. She is currently unpublished and is working fervently to get the "un" removed from that statement. With seven books under her belt and more on the way, she loves to write about destined heroes who fail anyway, twisting classic tropes on their heads, animals who feel more like people and, hopefully, about characters and worlds for you to have an opinion about.
She really can't wait for you to read these stories.
Considering she has run out of space for putting rejections letters up on her wall, Nicole now uses her spare time doing the typical things that nerds do: blogging, dying repeatedly during video games (which she believes is retribution for the characters' she's killed), wishing she was the character she is currently reading about and trying to fight off the real world by living in her own head, with varying degrees of success. Nicole has a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in Film and Media Studies, and works as an evening librarian assistant.
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What fun! It’s so interesting to look back and see how our approaches and patterns have changed over the years. Interesting about reading romances — for whatever reason, a lot of people look down at the genre, but I love that you were able to embrace it through your reviews! There’s no wrong answer for book lovers. 🙂

It definitely is (I also hadn’t realized it had been so long since I started writing reviews!). It’s really a shame that there is this stigma in regards to reading romance–or how many genres have people who look down upon enjoying them. It’s completely unnecessary.

My first reviews were really long too (although now that I think about it, my reviews NOW aren’t that short) and I can barely stand to go back and read them, for some reason! It is fun to see how you evolve, though. This was a fun exercise! (well even though I didn’t participate, I enjoyed everyone else’s early reviews)

Hi there! This is Nicole, a twenty-something all-around nerd, considering I’m a: SFF writer, freelance editor, blogger, book reviewer and a gamer. Welcome to my corner of the internet! I hope you feel welcome here as we rant about books, lament over writing and prolly get a little too personal.

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